Edward (1917-2002) is our grandfather; Hill Farmstead Brewery rests upon the land that was once home to him and his five children. In his honor, this American Pale Ale is dutifully crafted from American malted barley, a plethora of American hops, our ale yeast and water from Edward’s well. It is unfiltered, naturally carbonated, and dry hopped. Aromatic and flowery, with impressions of citrus and pine, this is the ale that I dream to have shared with Edward.

Reviews by TheBrewo:

We pop the top on our refillable Hill Farmstead 750mL bottle, pouring a brew of muted sunset orange into our Great Lakes pint glasses. It holds a two finger head of creamy, cakey, and massive off-white bubbles, showing nice retention, and leaving honeycomb lacing all around the glasses as it bubbles and crackles away. A chill haze cuts clarity, but no sediment is noted. Carbonation appears to be active. The aroma is beautifully sweet, with the hops taking you off your feet from the first whiff. Varietals give notes of sopping wet citric juiciness, sweet fruitiness, bright florals, and resiny slickness. The malts are pale crisp, and evenly sweet, with a light toast, and a soft powdery dryness to them. The water is hard, with mineral, mud, and stoned gravel. With warmth comes light booziness, white grape sweetness, biting lemon rind, grapefruit, and tangerine, green grassiness, and spice of sesame seed, black pepper, and mustard greens. Our first impression is that the beer is incredibly flavorful, with a surprising lack of sweetness that goes well with the bittered grain and well watered depth, making it uniquely refreshing. As we sip, the taste opens with floral, herbal, and syrupy grapefruit hoppiness, booze and black pepper, mineral water heaviness, tart lemon, flashes of honey sweetness, softness of oat and grittiness of pale malts, concrete dustiness, and nectarine sweetness. The middle comes to a peak with browned apple sweetness, continued earthy, lemony and grapefruity hops, enhanced bitterness of rind, sulfur bite, wet clay, more fusel boozy warmth, and echoes of soured plastics as we transition to the finish. Here we are given the final mixture of tangy green grapes, white florals, nectary and ever-so-brightly citric and syrupy hops, pale and powdery raw maltiness, bittered grit of grass and plant blub, light cherry fruitiness, and a final flash of white sugar and clover honey. The aftertaste breathes of authentic grapefruit flesh juiciness and bitterness, further airs of herbal hops, tangerine and apricot sugars, tannic herbal teas, mineral and clay, biting yeasty puck, and that pale malt mash. The body is light to medium, and carbonation is high, but inoffensive. Each sip gives hearty slurp, smack, cream, and froth, with the mouth left fully coated with foam. There is an interesting involuntary shutter of the mouth into a moderate puck, leaving things left feeling tartly tingly and astringently dried. The abv is appropriate, and the beer drinks very well.

Overall, what we enjoyed most about this beer was the hop explosion on the nose, and the wonderfully interwoven realism of the farm’s well-water. As in some of their other hoppy beers, this plays an integral part in the aroma and the flavoring, giving a certain genuine brush to it, and making the grain and oily hoppiness that much more close, wholesome, and real. The hops through the flavoring, here, were insanely flavorful, juicy, and authentic, giving the illusion that one was literally sucking on a thin slice of dripping wet grapefruit. Again, this mixed with the exquisite base components, making for yet another memorable, thoughtful, and deliberate beer with true character. (3,201 characters)

More User Reviews:

Considering I drove from New Mexico to Vermont to taste that 'awesome Vermont beer' I was quite let down to get served this in Brattlesboro. It was still a decent pale ale but I had been lead to believe differently, I hope the other Vermont beers I get to try are better or live up to their ratings more so. We'll see if this was an old keg or whatever OR if Vermonters like to pad the homeboys brews, the latter would be so disappointing. (440 characters)

Great pour, heavy nose. Appearance looks like a double. Good head but disappears within minutes.Taste -floral notes with Piney finish but as it sits the pine gets lost. One would think it has a higher abv it is only 5.2Overall great beer excited to try more from this brewery. (280 characters)

Pours a hazed orange color with a white head. Aroma is piney and full of tropical fruits. The taste is also tropical, lots of pith, pine, pineapple, papaya. The taste is very fruity and hoppy. Nice pine, resin, mild tropical punch, light citrus. Refreshing take on a pale. Light body, light to medium carbonation, slightly drying hop finish. Overall, this is a great brew, thx to K0IZ for the pickup. (400 characters)